We went back to the amazing cafe for breakfast and I was feeling very hipster with my avocado on sourdough toast.

We then went on a walking tour around the historic centre of Oaxaca and we started outside the cathedral. The construction started in 1535 and the seat of the dioces moved there in 1640. It has been damaged and repaired several times due to earthquakes, so the building we see today was actually last finished in 1733. The facade is made from a local Oaxacan green cantera stone which you can see in many places around Oaxaca.

The tour took us from the cathedral to the central park and the government buildings. The buildings are associated with Benito Juarez who was born in Oaxaca state and is of Zapotec ancestry. Although born poor he became the first indigenous president for Mexico and lead the liberal movement through the civil “War of Reform” and the French invasion from 1858 to his peaceful death in office in 1872.

The band stand in the centre of the park was commissioned by Porfirio Diaz, who was Mexico’s dictator for several decades (1876-1911) and had a love of French culture and architecture.

We also visited the Santo Domingo de Guzman church with its very very baroque and bling gold interior. Construction by the Dominicans started in 1575 but the church and accompanying monastery wasn’t fully complete until 200 years later. The monastery was active from 1608 until the revolutionary wars in 1857 when it became a military barracks, it returned to use as a church in 1938 and was then restored.

We tried some local cocoa/maize based drinks and saw the auditorio Guelaguetza in the distance where a local festival is held. We then passed by the remains of an aqueduct which used to bring water to the city, constructed in the 1700’s it was finally replaced by steel pipes in the 1940’s.

The tour finished near the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Soledad where the nearby plaza is occupied by many artesanal ice cream stands. I think we will go back and visit this again soon.

Afterwards we went round the museum in the old Santo Domingo monastery – it was made a museum in 1972 and eventually fully restored in 1999. I especially liked the exhibit on what was found at the Monte Alban Zapotec site – particularly the Tomb 7 burial from the classic period which is one of the richest to have been found.

The most iconic find was a human covered in mosaic. The skull has been decorated with a turquoise mosaic, as turquoise was valued more highly than gold as a sacred colour of the gods. The top of the skull has been removed so it can be used in ceremonies to collect sacrificial blood possibly.

The exhibit also had a lot of high value jewellery, demonstrating that the Zapotecs worked or traded for luxury items. Finely carved sea shells, polished jade and thin worked gold were all used.

The museum covers local history up until Mexican Independence, including the hispanic conquest. One interesting fact we learnt was that the Catholic’s tended not to emphasise the sacrifice of Christ in their conversion of the locals or in their imagery. They were trying to convert the locals from their gods and the idea of human sacrifice was one they were trying to suppress not encourage.

From the museum you can also look over the botanical gardens which have been established in the old monastery grounds – more on these tomorrow!

We then set out to try Mole at Los Pacos where they have a sample plate of the seven different types of mole.

• Negro: onion, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cumin, dried chiles, pumpkin and sesame seeds, herbs like hoja santo and cilantro, and lots of dark chocolate.
• Rojo – similar to Negro, but with less chocolate and added dried red chiles and raisins.
• Coloradito – between rojo and negro, but sweetened with mashed plantain.
• Amarillo – similar base to negro, but no chocolate.
• Verde – tomatillos, jalapenos and cilantro.
• Chichilo – based on a beef stock with the spices added but no chocolate
• Manchamantel – red chorizo, tomatoes, ancho chiles, pineapple and plantain.

My favourite was the classic Mole Negro, which wasn’t too surprising as it has chocolate in it. It has to be done well though otherwise the chocolate gains a burnt flavour and all is ruined. Fortunately this example was perfect!

We headed back to our apartment and terrace to enjoy the night views over the city after that.

The night bus was not my favourite and I barely got any sleep, look how wide awake I am at 3am compared with Dave. 

We went from San Cristobal at 2,200m (7,200ft) to the isthmus pass at 220m (735ft). The isthmus is known as the Chivela pass and was used by the spaniards to ship goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans because its only 200 miles across at its narrowest point. Its use as a trading route only declined with the opening of the Panama canal. Then we were back to 1,555m (5,100ft) at Oaxaca. We arrived at Oaxaca at around 10am and walked across town with our heavy bags in middle of day. At least we got to pass these colourful jaguars.

When we arrived at our accommodation we were told we could have a free upgrade to an apartment with a terrace. I leapt at the chance and it was great to have so much extra space inside.

Interestingly the complex of apartments even had a loom which was used by an older gentleman.

We went out for a late lunch and we were very close to an amazing place which I think we will keep going back to called Boulenc. Oaxaca is very famous for its mushrooms, as it has over 2500 endemic species, with at least 50 which are edible. We had foccacia bread with mushrooms and it was ever so delicious.

Afterwards we got our bearings and walked around the central historical area and the Santo Domingo monastery. I also had an awesome chocolate brownie we had picked up from Boulenc earlier.

After having such a poor nights sleep on the bus I needed an early night!

Today we went to see the El Chiflon waterfalls. This involved a collectivo to Comitán and then another to the falls. Both sides of the river have separate parks and we chose the right hand side as having better reviews. It was a hot walk under very little shade to the waterfalls and we had tuk-tuks honking us to offer us lifts but we persevered onward.

The Chiflon waterfalls are a cascade of five separate falls on the San Vincente river which drop 120m in total. The five falls from bottom to top are: Sigh Waterfalls, Angel Wing Waterfalls, Bridal Veil Waterfalls, Rainbow Waterfalls and Quinceañera Waterfalls.

We hiked all the way up to the top, only pausing to take photos of all the very many falls. The last segment was very steep and slippery from all the water in the air from the Quinceañera waterfall. The largest waterfall Bridal Veil is the third one up, falling 70m.

After a cheap pack up lunch we were ready to go zip lining. Unfortunately the GoPro got too hot and refused to video the second zip wire which was disappointing.

We went back and had a great meal at Maya Pakal which included soup, main, cake and a super strong margarita as a deal.

We then packed for our overnight bus to Oaxaca. Definitely a busy day!

We drove through clouds on our way to Sumidero Canyon today. It’s ever so surreal to realise we are so high up; San Cristobal is 2200m above sea level. That’s probably why it’s been so cold!

First we were serenaded by marimba players while we got kitted out with life jackets for the boat trip. I now officially detest marimba players because they have no volume control and the low notes are very blurred. Not my favourite. But once we were on the boat everything was great. 

Sumidero Canyon began forming around the same time as the Grand Canyon in the USA (35 million years ago). At Sumidero the Grijalva river has eroded its way down so currently the canyon reaches a depth of up to 1000m and is 13km long.

We saw a lot of wildlife on our way through the canyons including crocodiles, spider monkeys and an island of birds. The spider monkey even posed for us and hung out on a branch right by the boat. I suspect it’s been trained with food to do this since it showed no fear of the many cameras being shoved in its face.

We went all the way through the canyon to a lake created by the Chicoasen hydro electric dam. Although it is a national park, sadly the canyon is downstream from some large cities which results in a lot of debris and pollution which has to be captured. 

After the boat trip we took the bus to the viewpoints above the canyon. We spent a bit more on an organised tour because we wouldn’t have the viewpoints otherwise. I think the photos were worth it!

By this point it was getting a bit late in the day and I was feeling peckish. We stopped off at the town Chiapa De Corzo and ate a dish of pork in broth which we werent quite sure of the name of. I also had horchata so I was loving it. Sadly we only had a quick 30mins here so we just toured the Central Park and got tempted by the clothes but didn’t end up buying anything. It takes me more time to get my wallet out than 30mins!

We tried a local place for food that evening, a group of Mayan teenagers started it up to share traditional food. Sadly the chef tested out a new recipe for salsa verde on us which was inedible. So after being very un-british and complaining about it (because we know salsa verde should be delicious) we ended up with empanadas instead.

Today was a day of cold and rain which is never very fun. 

We tried a cooking class at a non profit called steps which teaches people how the indigenous mayans cook and gives funding for education back to these communities. First we had a lesson in how to make fire which used up a whole box of matches and most of the liquid in a lighter and half the cooking oil. It really did not want to light and get hot enough to spread to the coals. The teacher kept on smothering the flames with coals too quickly before the fire was hot enough to spread to them.

We put a pot on the coals with peppers, tomatoes, onions and chilli to blacken for the salsa.

We learnt how you have to soak the maize first and rub it to get the husks off. We then used a grain mill to mill the maize into a coarse flour which we added water to and rolled into equal size balls. There were two methods to make these into tortillas 1) roll and press with your hands into a circle of equal thickness which I preferred or 2) use the press machine but don’t press too heavily or it’s too thin to pick up and place on the hot plate. The hot plate was covered in calcium oxide as a “non-stick” coating. 

On the hot plate once the tortillas were cooked we added Oaxaca cheese to melt on them to make quesadillas. Then we moved on to the salsa as they finished cooking.

With the salsa we blended all the ingredients together with a little water using a mortar and pestle. Then ate it with our cooked quesadillas. It was lovely except when you had too much chilli seeds from the salsa!

We learnt that in Chiapas the nearby Coca Cola plant has deeper wells than the local communities so it takes the majority of ground water in the area leaving the indigenous communities less water and they either have to pay for bottled water or use contaminated water. Also Coca Cola is cheaper than bottled water which is creating a diabetes epidemic. The charity that orgnaises the cooking class is educating the local communities about the danger of diabetes and providing education for children.

We finished the class just before the heavens opened and a torrent of rain fell down. This was lucky since we were cooking in an open courtyard because we were using a real fire like the indigenous people would have done.

We dived into the nearest shelter which turned out to be a hotel with a restaurant. The hot chocolate wasn’t great but at least it was dry! I wasn’t feeling their menu so we went to Anafritos Chipanecos which had traditional Chiapas cuisine. We ended up pointing at the pot with the chicken instead of the pot with the fatty unknown meat and it was very tasty. I even got desert!

With the rain over we walked around the textile market again but with it being a Sunday a lot was shut. Sunday’s are important for families to be together so a lot of things are either at their busiest with families or closed.

After our late lunch all we fancied for tea was churros and hot chocolate. My kinda food!

We took a collectivo to Ocosingo down a long windy road with many switchbacks and speed bumps. It got incredibly stuffy with no aircon or windows open and with all the sudden start stops I was feeling pretty ill. At Ocosingo we walked through the town and busy market to catch another collectivo to the Tonina Ruins.

Tonina spent much of its time at war with Palenque, and expanded its territory against others as well, becoming the dominant city in the west. The site is built upon a raised platform of about 6 hectares, while the main temple is 71m high from this plaza. This is one of the tallest pyramids in Mexico and it certainly took a long time to climb up to the top!

Archaeologically it is notable for its well preserved stucco decorations. These decorations generally depict the ruthless way they killed or defeated their enemies. The most impressive stucco is 16x4m and shows a death god carrying the head of Palenque’s ruler in one hand – so nice people.

It was certainly a work out going up all those stairs! But the view was worth it. Luckily we had pack up sandwiches to munch on and get some energy back.

It was a long way back to San Cristobal but after two and a half hours we finally arrived. We went out to Cocoliche for food and I absolutely loved the frozen pineapple yoghurt drink and yellow curry. Even better a band started at 9pm and they had a brilliant tenor saxophone player.

After another fabulous breakfast at Xocol-Na “Chocolate & Churros”. We went to the main plaza to meet up for the walking tour around San Cristobal. Our guide, Bee was incredibly enthusiastic and showed us all the best places.

First we learnt about the Zapatistas who had taken the town in 1994 as part of their protest against central Mexican government for more rights to the indigenous people and access to better roads and water. Sounds like they had a point there but they quickly made the residents in the town fed up with them. The Zapatistas are still around and make road blocks as part of their protests but aren’t violent and the army mostly leaves them alone in the areas they control though they are technically at war. The Zapatista movement actually started during the Mexican revolution, though the current Zapatistas are not directly linked to them, many of their ideals are similar.

We then walked down the pedestrian street Miguel Hidalgo towards Iglesias Del Carmen which was closed due to the earthquake in 2017 and still had scaffolding inside it. Instead we paused at Casa de la Cultura del Centro Cultural del Carmen which had s little oasis of a garden inside it.

We then passed the law school and made our way up the hill to a cafe with a rooftop terrace where we had super views over the valley. The communities living up the sides of the hills from the city are mostly indigenous people – typically these areas have a single road for vehicles and are not frequented by outsiders as they police themselves.

We then passed the prison which had been converted into a convent and is now the Amber museum. We then walked through the nearby park toward Jade Museum and looked at replicas of Mayan jade work and saw what the tomb of Pakal at Palenque looked like. We also had chocolate to try at the chocolate museum and tasted it at 100%, 86% and 70% chocolate and learnt that the Mayans used it as a form of currency. We then got to try tascalate which is a chocolate drink made from a mixture of roasted maize, chocolate, ground pine nuts, achiote, vanilla and sugar – it’s pretty good!

We then went through the textile market we had visited yesterday and past the Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzman. Up through the wealthy area of San Cristobal to an art workshop which had a terrace overlooking the city.

San Cristobal was built within the centre of a valley and we had one last hill to climb. We went to the top of Igelsia de Guadeloupe and I ran up all the way and was first to the top.

We timed it just right with the end of the tour to be inside while a thunderstorm rolled over. You can see the route we took and the stops in the google map below.

Once the rain had died down we walked the long way back to ask for prices for tours to do during the rest of our time in San Cristobal and finished the rest of our pasta off. As a treat for finishing some blog posts we then had hot chocolate and churros at our favourite breakfast place.

We had a great breakfast at my new favourite breakfast restaurant Xocol-Na. The hot chocolate is so flavourful – it’s got cinnamon and chilli and lots of spices giving it great depth. I am going to try and have this every day!

Then we went to the chocolate museum and it looked pretty similar to the stuff we already learnt at Antigua. But that didn’t stop me having my second hot chocolate for the day. Seriously I have a problem I just love my hot chocolate.

We then went round the Museo de los Altos de Chiapas museum which was all in Spanish so it took us a while to translate things. We learnt that the city was founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos and called Villa Real de Chiapa. From then on the city went through a number of name changes until in 1848 it was named in honour of Bartolome de las Casas as San Cristobal de las Casas. Bartolome was a 16th century Dominican Friar who wrote extensively about the abuses being committed against the indigenous peoples and campaigned for their rights.

Upstairs was the Mayan Textile Repository/Museum which showcased the different dress from the cultures living in Chiapas. They can look very different with some having frills and others having very abstract patterns to yet others having flowers and animals embroidered on them. This is a living history and the designs the people use do change and they make them today using hand looms.

After the museum we went around the textile market which is just outside the museum which is housed in the Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán. There must be over 50 stalls of traditional style textiles and other crafts. I tried on a few but nothing wanted to come home (and take up valuable backpack space).

Suddenly rain descended upon us so we escaped in to a nearby doughnut shop and had frozen mango smoothies to tide us over.

Since we are staying in San Cristobal for a week we chose an Airbnb place which has a kitchen so we could try and cook some of our dinners. The supermarket in San Cristobal is a bit of a walk outside the centre but you could find pretty much everything in it and it was very similar to something you would find in Europe. The pasta didn’t turn out great, I blame the pasta sauce we brought which turned out rather sweet.

It was a very very very very very very looooooong trip to get to Mexico. I’m talking 12 and a half hours to get there. It was one shuttle to get to the border then another shuttle once we got our stamps from Guatemala. Weirdly it was at least 10mins driving from the Guatemalan border point to get to the Mexican immigration building to get our stamps. It was a torturously long queue there and it needn’t be. Half the staff were on their phones despite the no phone signs everywhere. At least there were seats and we treated ourselves to ice cream for suffering through the whole process.

At least our place in San Cristobal is really nice and I love the bedspread. So tempted to buy one!

We went out for hog roast quesadillas for dinner and yes they are just as awesome as you think they are. Meaty and cheesy with extra crackling. After such a long day I needed some comfort food.

Today started with good intentions to do a long hike up the San Pedro Volcano. Like many things with our trip to Lake Atitlan things didn’t quite go according to plan.

We started with a filling breakfast of bolognese calzone – that order they forgot to complete in time last night. It might have tasted better warmer.

The boat trip took an actual geological age to leave. Apparently not many people wanted to go to San Pedro at 6:30 in the morning and instead we were still at the docks at 7:30. Ideally we wanted an early start because climbing a volcano in the heat of the day is amusing but not particularly effective. But we were still keen to carry on.

To make up time we took a tuktuk up to the start of the volcano reserve. Of course he tried to sting us half way up but I wasn’t having any of that. Especially since I didn’t really understand him and just shouted at him. It was a morning ok.

Once we got to the start of the volcano we found out we couldn’t even climb all of it. Because of bandits the guides only go up half way. I personally look at the guides as my meat shield so they should bloody well go up to the top and take one for the team – meaning me. The guide wouldn’t even do a discount for doing half the job. Plus I quizzed him intensively on how many view points there actually would be on the route and there aren’t many since it’s within the cloud forest.

Plan 2 – we went back to the town so I could have some chocolate. Everything’s is better with liquid chocolate.

We decided to look for another guide in the town to take us up an alternative mountain called Indian Nose where there are lots of view points and you can at least go to the top if you take a guide. We negotiated the price down but you definitely needed a guide for this one since there are many horror stories of bandits being approved of by the local police. This is a wonderful area to visit as a tourist! Why do people like this area and stay here for months!

Indian Nose mountain gains its name from its shape. It looks somewhat like a face in profile with a large nose and obviously the area is full of Indians (certainly not Mayans) so the slightly racist name stuck.

Anyway we got in a car with some local Mayan people talking in their local language. There are at least four different Mayan languages in use in the different towns around the Lake Atitlan area. Two can be learnt if one is inclined, but the others are within the local community only. Fortunately as few of the locals speak more than one native language they all communicate with each other and foreigners in Spanish.

Anyway, after an interesting car ride we got turfed out in a random field and met up with two cousins who took us through the maize fields to their uncle who took us up.

Miguel was a lovely chap and believed I had the same name as his wife Clara. I didn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise so I had a new best friend and many hugs. He definitely had several machettes so who was I to tell him no.

Miguel did have enough English to point out the coffee plantations that are abundant over the hillsides. Coffee comes originally from Africa, but grows exceptionally well under shade trees in Guatemala, so now mainly comes from here not Africa. In a bit of a vice versa situation the cacao plant originally comes from Central America, but is now mainly grown in Africa.

Despite all these trials and tribulations at least we had a safe walk in the hills and some nice photos. I am never coming back here again.

The lake used to have perfectly clear water but since the introduction of carp and intensive farming cyanobacteria and algae have flourished and everything is very murky. I know that they need to farm but couldn’t they avoid direct sewerage into the lake? Ewwww! Plus since the carp are bottom feeders they stir up all the sediment mixing the nutrients and make the water murky.

I had chocolate and banana crepes to get over this whole day. At least I had a nice boat trip back with much less of a wait.

The boat ride back was much faster and at least it was warmer by the afternoon.

As we sat down to dinner a local celebration for a Saint’s day passed down the street. These little parades happen pretty much every day in Guatemala, if not for a Saint’s day then for birthdays, weddings, funerals or just general fiesta-ment. A guy at the front has a homemade rocket launcher (4inch pipe with a base tacked to it) and every hundred yards or so he plonks it on the floor and fires a rocket incredibly close to the crowd. You don’t get any pretty fireworks, it just whooshes up and explodes leaving some dirty smoke. Wakes you up at 3am anywhere in town.

We liked our meal deal so much we came back again to try something else on the menu – sadly no extra helpings of garlic bread today though.